A New Home For Hope

The new Bishop Dudley Hospitality House will be located at 101 North Indiana Avenue. It will provide the service that are currently provided at the Good Shepherd Center from showers to laundry, as well as lunch Tuesday through Friday.

They would like to expand services as well, but their goal is to focus on raising funds for the project. The current building is only 6,600 square feet, and they are moving into 19,000 square feet.

Lois Thunder has been utilizing The Good Shepherd Centers services for almost 20 years. She admits she's grateful for the extra help.

"I always thank them every day for whatever they do for me and the meals that they provided for us.

It has been a long road for her and sometimes it's a constant struggle to make ends meet.

"Sometimes you know the income that I get and the food stamps that I get don't last us all months so I come here or I go to the banquet or the mission," Thunder said.

While she's made a lot of friends at the Good Shepherd Center she's looking forward to expansion in the new facility.

"I think it will be great because this place is kind of too small and it's too crowded and they have to start setting up different tables elsewhere for the people that come in," Thunder said.

County and city officials as well as other agencies have been working tirelessly because they recognize a need for the poor and homeless in Sioux Falls.

"It's nice to be able to collaborate with other agencies with the county and city government just everyone that has wanted to be involved," Executive Director of the Good Shepherd Center Maria Crell said.

"The group has been working hard over the last few months to hone this down and to refine it and we made a sheet of page of recommendations of how this would go forward and that's what Bishop Sawne said yes to," Jerry Klein said.

Their goal is to have it completed by January 1st.

"The architect can begin to get very serious about the design and the detail of the design and that has to happen. There is a small amount of demolition work that has to happen in the existing building. It just keeps the process along that timeline that we have identified early on," Klein said.

A project that will make a big impact on the community once it's completed.

"It's important I think it is anyway, especially for the street people," Thunder said.